Aftermath
by crackedarkness
Summary: Two brave soldiers. Two broken souls. Naina and Gunny have a conversation after the Task Force returns to KMA.


The Task Force returns to KMA after the mission.

Their return is silent. Homecoming feels strange, but not unwelcome and they are all grateful, in varying degrees, to be back in the halls of the academy. Training must resume and inspite of their heroic missions, they have to graduate with their batchmates.

Rummy has taken to visiting his brother almost everyday. He says he has to make up for all the lost time with him and though Captain Randhawa treats him no different from others during their training, he is glad to have his brother around. They have a lot to talk about, and much to catch up on each others' lives "like brothers," as Rummy puts it.

"I mean, I know you must have been this awesome, stoic soldier type but how many times did you sneak out of the academy after curfew? I need to know this in order to better understand you as a brother!"

Rummy, along with others, is now significantly better at training than their classmates. They are more dedicated than ever, with a idea of what they are training for. They have all found a purpose.

Cadets Peter and Malla still goof around to some extent but their mentors can see the change in everyone's attitude towards being a soldier.

They are a group of six minus one now, as the gaping hole left by Cadet Vidya's absence is felt by them all.

"Did you love her?" Rummy asks one day. It is almost casual but his older brother recognizes the slightly low, serious tone.

His hands still mid-air, holding the coffee mug and he scans all over the bookshelf in front of him without registering any of it.

The silence on his part seems to alert Rummy and he quickly stammers out, "you don't have to- it's... it's fine if you don't want to talk. I didn't-"

Thankfully for him, the bell sounds, signalling the cadet's cue to head to his room and away from Gunny's electrified stance. He loves his brother, wants to build their relationship, but how can he speak of things he is not clear about?

He wonders then, if meeting Lieutenant Naina Singh the very next day is a cosmic joke or a mere coincidence.

Because he knew. Oh, he knew. He still remembers the precise look that passed Cadet Naina's face whenever Captain Rajveer made an appearance, whether in mere name or in person.

He had heard of her band of friends sneaking out of the academy to rescue the Captain and he had heard this from Rajveer himself and if Gunny could ever pride himself in understanding human behaviour as a part of his military training, he could unearth every emotion underlining Rajveer's talk. He might not have been able to name every emotion then, but he could make a fair guess now.

Naina takes one look at him and understanding passes over her face. It is not pity, but the comprehension of what has been lost.

Gunny turns the other way.

He cannot face her, suddenly. His pace increases till he is nearly running out of the cafeteria and does not stop till he has reached his quarters, shut the door and slumped down against it.

His brain seems to realize it all over again that Cadet Saxena-_Vidya_ is no more.

The dull throbbing in his head seems mocking, a reminder that she did not live to complete the mission and see it succeed.

Gunny swears a little as he sees Naina Singh in the cafeteria again; this time, talking to Captain Abhimanyu. They glance at him and part ways, Abhimanyu coming towards him.

Abhimanyu stops before him and Captain Randhawa shoots him a look, as if challenging him to say something... anything.

What the Task Force had taken up has invariably twisted them all into a tangled web that he knows has changed their lives forever. They can't go back now and they can't live their lives as anything less than something extraordinary than what the academy could give them. And as a fellow team member, as a friend, Abhimanyu only pats him on the shoulder and walks away.

Gunny immediately regrets the haughty stance he had adopted.

He patiently walks over to Lieutenant Naina Singh and sits opposite her and she acknowledges him with a brief salute.

"I only want to know for sure that Eagle is dead."

He approves in a single syllabus.

"Yes."

She gives the smallest sigh and leans back in her chair slightly. Apparently though, she has no intentions of moving away after getting the answer she wanted. Her stubbornness, he'd heard from Captain Rajveer (always with that tone of pride he could hardly cover when it came to her) but Gunny asks her first.

"How did you... go on?" He says it simply, knowing that she of all people would understand the pain he is feeling. The pain and all the uncertainty between what they were and what they could have been.

"I had promised him to be the best soldier" she replies just as simply.

There is silence again. The noise in the cafeteria has already faded away. But now he can hear Cadet Vidya's eager chatter in the background.

Being a soldier meant he had had to watch his comrades fall in battle. But this time however, there was such an acute jab still burning in his chest that he could not save her and that they were not really meant to get entangled into the whole Eagle business anyway, they were just Cadets without even full training yet dammit-

"You can't pity her"

Naina's voice is clear and there is a fierce look in her eyes. There's no doubt about the best soldier just then.

"You can't pity any of them" she adds, in the same fierce tone.

"We are all soldiers Captain, never forget that. Do you think she would have wanted you to be sorry and doubt all of their capabilities as a soldier?"

The sharp intake of breath from him lets Naina know that she has conveyed her point.

The hurt won't pass easily, she knows. How long had it taken for her to come to terms with Captain Rajveer's death, after all? Even longer to realize that she had to keep her promise, to become the best soldier she could, that Captain Rajveer believed she would.

What redemption do they have, Gunny wonders, for all the _what if_s and _maybe_s and _almost_s? Perhaps there is none. They simply go on all the while believing in the common cause they all shared. He maybe now understand Naina's promise to Rajveer a little better.

And so they sit there in silence; two brave soldiers, with the promise to give everything they have to the country, to be the best soldiers they can.

They sit there alone, two broken souls, trying to piece themselves back with whatever remains of their heart.


End file.
